Assassin of the heart
by Avid fangirl for life
Summary: Emma and Regina assassin au.


It's late one December night when Emma Swan finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun. It's pointed at the bridge of her nose and the safety isn't on, but for her this isn't a new situation. She keeps her sneer firmly in place, or at least she tries to, and her eyes barely flicker to the deadly object aimed at her face before they close. She doesn't let it phase her for even a second, if she's going to die tonight, then she's going to die. Her training dictates that she won't flinch, she hasn't flinched away from a gun in nearly fifteen years.

The last times she had, well she was ten and she still bears the scars that prove staying still is the better solution. Staying put will probably get her killed, but at least if she seems unmoved by fear, which she genuinely is, she gets to die with dignity. Over the years she may have lost everything else that made her who she was, but they let her keep her dignity. In some shape or form anyway. She's grown far too stubborn and proud to flinch away from an object, even a weapon aimed at her by an assassin.

The woman aiming the gun at her had presumably been sent by the agency. She knew that they would come after her eventually, hell they took their time about it, but doing it in such a way was the cruelest thing they could have done. Emma's not quite sure how it had happened, how this woman had slipped past her guard, past all the walls she had built up, but she had.

Emma's used to watching her back against every person who tries to get close, who tries to sneak past her defences and worm their way into her life, but this time she had failed. For a second she had let her guard down and relaxed her walls and that was all it had taken for the woman in front of her to scale those walls and gain access. A feat never before achieved.

The agency must have been extremely pissed when she slipped off of their radar. She's guessing Neal at topside had taken it rather personally, as though it were a rejection of his less that gentlemanly advances, seen as her mark had clearly been given explicit instructions. The woman had known exactly how to work her and Emma had stupidly let her. Not once had Emma tried to stop the woman, maybe because she was enjoying herself too much to put an end to it.

Looking back, she could see how every moment had been a lie. Every move the woman before her had made had been carefully calculated as though it had been worked out. The woman had pretended to be as bad at personal stuff as Emma, and yet everything she had done in their 'relationship' had been perfect. The worst part was, Emma had let herself be blind because she hadn't wanted to see. For once she hadn't wanted to expect the worst, she hadn't wanted to see what had been right in front of her nose, and so she had ignored it.

Every time her gut, her killer instincts had told her something was very, very wrong she had ignored it, she had pushed down the nauseous feeling in her stomach down ad tamped a hold on it. For once she had allowed herself to be blissfully happy, to ignore the dangerous, hateful world around her and she had allowed herself and this woman to exist in a bubble. The problem with bubbles are that they are so fragile that they are easily popped.

Emma had known, she had always known. It had to come to an end, good things always did for her, and she knew that the end was one of them lying deacon the ground. That was the life of an assassin. The problem was, this woman, her Regina, was the one person on this entire earth that she couldn't kill.

The agency at topside had been evil and calculating enough in their actions to ensure that the abrasive and rather beautiful woman before Emma had worked her way under the ex assassins skin. It had been a full year since their first meeting, or as Regina had insisted on calling it, their fist date. Since then Emma had been on a landslide that had sent her sprawling head first into falling for her. It hadn't taken long for Emma to realise she loved Regina, although they didn't know all that much about one another.

They had agreed to not discuss their pasts, thinking that they were far too troubling for the other to handle. Emma could have lied to Regina, she had multiple back stories she could have chosen from. After all she had more than ample experience at lying and she knew each and every one of her back stories like the back of her hand, inside and out. It came in handy during interrogations, an assassin had to be able to lie convincingly through their teeth in order to seem innocent. If you told your captors even one little detail about your mission or real life, the agency would kill you if your captors didn't. Emma didn't lie to Regina though, it felt wrong to do so.

Emma had never loved anyone before, in any way, shape or form, but she knew from the sinking feeling in her stomach that lying to Regina would be something she would never forgive herself for. That had been all Regina had done to her, she had lied through her fucking teeth for months on end. Not only that, but Emma had been stupid enough to believe her. She had believed her when, in the middle of the night Regina had breathed out an 'I love you' into the darkness. She had believed her when Regina had spoken of their future together as though she wasn't going to kill her all along.

Emma had been stupid enough to believe every fucking lie that had fallen past Regina's bright red, very kissable lips. She had been stupid enough to let Regina see her vulnerable, in her weakest moments. She had let Regina console her when the nightmares had come, and Regina had held her whilst she wept after waking, it had been a show of how much she cared about Emma. And Emma had believed it.

Emma Swan isn't scared of dying, the gun pointed at the middle of her temple doesn't bother her in the slightest. If she is to die, then so be it. Death was something Emma had learnt to accept a long time ago, after all she had been the one who ended many lives. She had killed so many people, at not even a quarter of a century old, her kill count sat at 143. When it came to death, Emma was unattached, even if that death was her own.

No the death didn't matter, but the betrayal and her heart break did. Emma had known right from hello why Regina had appeared in her life, she had felt it from that first moment (her instincts were what had set her apart at the academy she had attended before the agency) but that didn't make it any easier for her to deal with the agony of Regina's betrayal. She wished that Regina would just pull the trigger and get it over with. It seemed foolish, but she was beginning to grow impatient, she didn't like having to wait to be killed like a lamb waiting for her slaughter. Although she was pretty far from being as innocent as a lamb.

She had to hand it to Regina, she was a pretty amazing liar. Even better than Emma, then again, she was amazing at everything she did, so Emma really shouldn't be surprised. Everything that had fallen from her lips had sounded so true, so natural. But it hadn't been, it had all been a lie. One big, very convincing, very heart breaking lie. Her and Regina were supposed to be celebrating their one year anniversary tonight, but upon arriving she had found something very different from what she had been anticipating awaiting her.

Regina had been lying in wait and she had barely been through the door of the apartment before she had felt a gun being pressed to her head. All of the fight had left her immediately and she had sagged to the floor, defeated. There was no way she was going to let herself fight back. She was expendable, but she had finally succeeded in no longer being the monster the agency had created in her. That and there was literally no way she would let herself hurt the woman she loved, the agency would love that. Knowing that she had still been their creation in her final moments, with no moral compass or ideas about right and wrong would have made the operators at topside very happy. Emma wasn't prepared to do that.

Emma wasn't capable of hurting Regina, even after all of the betrayal. She wouldn't put up a fight, she would let what was meant to happen, happen. That had been two hours ago, but Regina still hadn't killed her. To say her patience was wearing thin, as well as her ability to sit perfectly still, we're starting to waver. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she opened her eyes to finally look at Regina.

She could feel the gun trembling on her forehead, Emma was sure it was from exertion. Regina wasn't actually affected by the though of having to kill her, was she? Surely, with Emma as her mark she hadn't allowed herself to get attached. Emma knew that Regina didn't feel anything substantial for her, Emma was unable to hurt Regina -she hadn't even put up a fight for gods sake- but Regina obviously had very few qualms about hurting Emma. She did have a gun pointed at her her after all.

Emma finally worked up the courage to glance up at Regina. Looking up slowly, just raising her eyes, not tilting her head so she didn't startle Regina, she gazed up at Regina's face. She immediately regretted it as she could feel her heart wrenching in her chest at the sight. Regina's beautiful chocolate coloured eyes were closed and swollen from the tear seeping through the cracks, her bottom lip trembling wildly from its place between Regina's teeth, clasped tightly as though to stop its traitorous movements. From her position, Emma could see Regina's shoulders shaking furiously up and down from the sobs she was trying to keep silent. So that was why her arm was trembling as she clasped the gun that was pressed to Emma's forehead. Emma's heart broke a little more with each second.

Finally, she spoke, her voice strained from the emotion she was trying to keep in check. Emotion was weakness, she reminded herself. The problem was, Emma didn't mind being weak when it came to Regina. "Regina, just do it."

With a gasp and a startled intake of breath, Regina gazed down at her. Emma could see the confusing mixture of emotion swirling in Regina's watery eyes. With a blink, the emotion vanished and Regina's arm steadied. Emma closed her eyes and prepared herself for the shot that was about to end her rather short life. Although her eyes were closed, the image of Regina, her Regina (although Regina had never really been hers, so it seemed) remained burned into the back of her eyelids. The images of her flashed before her and instead of seeing her entire dismal life flash before, or behind in this case, her eyes she saw only the moments that held Regina.

She repeated a mantra of I-love-you's in her head, determined that her last thought would be about the only person she had ever loved. Even if that woman was her murderer, she wanted the one last thing she would feel to be the purity and innocence of the love she held for Regina. She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear the gun being cocked as the safety was put on. She did however, feel the gun being lowered from her forehead.

Curiously, she looked up at Regina, and she found that Regina looked both broken and disbelieving. With a dull thud, the gun fell from Regina's grasp and hit the floor and was closely followed by its owner as she fell gracelessly to the floor. If Emma hadn't of caught her she could of done herself some serious damage. Emma cradled Regina gently in her arms as the woman broke completely, every last bit of her steely reserve gone, disappearing as Regina took on a childlike quality through her sobs.

With a broken look on her face, Regina's hands came up as if of their own accord to cradle Emma's face in her hand as she whispers over and over a single phrase. Two words over and over, "I can't."

Finally, Regina pulls herself together enough to stop sobbing like a child in Emma's arms. She glances at the clock and the change after that is almost instantaneous. She flies up out of the comfort and warmth of Emma's arms and starts to fly around her apartment, gathering items as she goes. Emma knows that look, it is the look one takes on when they are desperately trying to escape before it is too late. She pauses for a second in front of Emma, considering what to do before grabbing her arm and drawing her to her feet with a look of utter panic flitting across her features.

If Emma hadn't grasped how dire the entire situation was she would have laughed, Regina in her frazzled state is rather adorable. But Emma can sense the seriousness of the situation at hand and so she doesn't laugh. Rather, she begins to gather her things that have accumulated in Regina's apartment over the past year. For almost a quarter of an hour, the two of you work feverishly, gathering your clothes and supplies. After you are done with this, Regina flips a switch that you hadn't noticed before and a compartment opens under the kitchen island counter. In it there are two forged passports, remarkable copies that won't be questioned, one for both of you, which is strange but not something to be questioned in that moment, a substantial amount of money that can not be agency provided and a huge array of weapons, all of which you had mastered by the time you turned fourteen.

Looking at the clock again, she releases a breath and seems to relax slightly, very slightly, but at least it's something. She sits on her couch and gestures for you to join her, you do after barely any hesitation. She glances at you, and you can see the buried surprise that adorns her features at your level of trust for her. You suppose it is surprising, after all she did just try to kill you, but you understand that it was just a mission she was assigned. With a sigh, she turns away from you, although she does reach for your hand, before launching into an explanation in such a small voice that you don't recognise it as belonging to the confidant woman whom had stolen your heart.

" I'm so sorry Emma. I didn't mean for this to happen, it wasn't supposed to get this far. You were meant to just be another mark. I was supposed to force my way into your life, get close to you and then kill you. Topside wanted it to be personal, the way they do when we run. They gave me nine months to complete it, and then I asked for an extension because I couldn't kill you. I said that I needed more time to get closer to you, but I just couldn't kill you. Tonight, well last night, was my deadline. I was supposed to kill you and leave your body and I was told to make it 'not pretty' and I panicked. But I couldn't do it, because I love you, I never lied about that you know. Now though, you're not dead and a team will be here to check in less than two hours and we have to be long gone before then or they'll kill us both."

"You want to run? You realise once you start you can't stop right?"

"I dint want to but I have to. If, if you could ever forgive me for this, would you accompany me? I know I don't have the right to ask, but I feel like I need to."

"You were doing your job, there's nothing to forgive. I'm coming with you, I won't let them anywhere near you."

Regina studies her for a long moment, tears welling up in her eyes before silently spilling over. Emma tenderly wipes them away with the pads of her thumbs before standing and pulling Regina up with her. Emma stares at Regina for a long second before pulling away to grab the duffel bags they left to the side of the couch and hoisting them up. With a grin aimed at Regina, she offers her a hand before pulling her to her front with one arm, the bags remaining in the other.

Kissing her soundly, Emma pulls away and grins goofily at Regina. Still holding hands, Regina leads Emma out of the door, pushing her keys under the door jamb and hurrying down the corridor with Emma in tow.

The arrive at the airport some time later, and just as Regina begins to worry that the forged passports won't pass under slower scrutiny, Emma seems to sense the other woman's growing apprehension and so she sweeps her up into her arms. She spins with Regina in her arms and she hears Regina giggle, for a moment she made her forget that they are on the run with their lives at stake if they are caught. And for Emma being able to do that makes the running worthwhile.

She stops spinning, but remains in the same spot with her eyes closed and Regina still in her arms. She feels Regina's lips at the corner of her mouth and it makes her burst out in a huge grin. She can't bring herself to care that they're on the run from an organisation that has eyes everywhere or even that Regina had been sent to kill her at first. Emma revels in the feeling of Regina's lips on hers because she finally feels alive after years of emptiness and for that and for Regina she's willing to take a a giddy smile flashed in Regina's direction, Emma examines the board overhead of all the possible destinations they could take off to, together.

"Where would you like to go, dear?"

Emma smiles again before answering.

"Anywhere, so long as I'm with you."


End file.
